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Jason

Denayer

City on Denayer:

In his short time at City, Belgian centre half Jason Denayer has proved himself to be a classy operator on the ball and an excellent reader of the game at the heart of the back four.

The 19-year old struck up an excellent partnership with Shay Facey in defence throughout the 2013/14 season as the boy Blues went deep in four competitions at home and abroad.

He scored his first goal for the club in the 6-0 UEFA Youth League win over Bayern Munich at the start of October and continued to shine throughout the season, earning himself opportunities to train with the first-team at Carrington.

A Belgian youth international, the ambitious Denayer was nominated for the EDS Player of the Year award after a fantastic 2013/14 campaign and joined Celtic on a season-long loan on 12 August 2014.

Denayer made 44 appearances in all competitions for Celtic in 2014/15 and it’s fair to say that Hoops supporters were sad to see him go after he claimed the SPL Young Player of the Year award, as well as the club’s own Young Player of the Year award.

Jason made his first senior international start for Belgium against France in the Stade de France on on Sunday 7 June 2015, just three months after his debut off the bench in the Euro 2016 qualifier against Israel.

The then-19-year old didn’t just feature against France but earned rave reviews for a performance which belied his modest years, earning praise from his international manager and his skipper for club and country, Vincent Kompany.